The seventh installment of Mission: Impossible comes out on July 12th. Before we see what Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) will do next, let’s take a look at the missions he’s had so far and rank them all, from worst to best!

6 – Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Directed by John Woo, Mission Impossible: II feels like it’s part of a different franchise all together! Sure, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is on a mission and Luther (Ving Rhames) by his side to help him, but everything else is a complete shift from the first installment. For starters: the amount of slow-motion shots! I didn’t remember there were so many of them! They look interesting at first, but it gets tiring as the movie progresses. Then, there’s Anthony Hopkins making a cameo as Ethan’s boss even though he never shows up in the following movies. It also feels smaller since the whole story basically takes place in Australia, so Ethan is not traveling around the world. Having said all that, it’s still a fun watch and it’s better than a lot of action movies that were released around the same time!

5 – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Ghost Protocol has an exciting opening, with Ethan escaping from a Moscow prison in an electrifying sequence. The movie also features one of the most impressive stunts done by Tom Cruise, where he is climbing the exterior of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The movie has a great pacing in the first two thirds but it loses a bit of it towards the end.

4 – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

Rogue Nation introduces the audience to a couple of key characters that will have a relevant role in the following movies, such as Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a former MI6 agent, and Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of a terrorist organization called The Syndicate. It’s the first movie of the franchise written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie and it’s the start of a storyline that is continued in the subsequent movies, as opposed to previous entries, when the stories weren’t necessarily linked. Also, as many of these movies, it reminded me a lot of the James Bond franchise, especially of Quantum of Solace, as I pointed out back in 2015. Still, it’s worth watching and it’s a necessary watch to understand the Mission: Impossible – Fallout and the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

3 – Mission: Impossible (1996)

The mission that started it all still holds up, even after 27 years! The masks, the action, the twists: they’re all so entertaining and fun and it’s a great way to kick off Ethan’s missions! Also, according to the trailers, Kittrigde (Henry Czerny), who plays an IMF director in this first movie, will be back for Dead Reckoning! So it might be a good idea to rewatch Mission: Impossible before the new one comes out to refresh your memory!

2 – Mission: Impossible III (2006)

One of the greatest joys of Mission: Impossible III is having Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain! The opening scene alone left me on the edge of my seat and the whole movie is an exhilarating ride! I also enjoy the idea that it’s never explicitly explained what the Rabbit’s Foot is or what it actually does.

1 – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Christopher McQuarrie is back at the helm for Fallout and it’s the first time one of the movies makes direct references not only to characters, but also to plot points of a previous entry. Fallout benefits from the addition of Henry Cavill and Vanessa Kirby to the cast, as well as some extremely thrilling action/fight sequences. You can read my full review from 2018 here and I still feel the same even after rewatching it five years later!

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One comes out on July 12th! You can watch the trailer below: